Jet Fuel Prices Hit Unprecedented High

DALLAS - Not only are jet fuel prices hitting a record-high spike but April 2022 was the first time ever that Jet-A prices surpassed 100LL prices.

This is according to GlobalAir.com, a Louisville, KY-based premium aircraft and aviation-related data and services provider. The company says that, in its nearly 15 years of tracking aviation fuel prices across the US, it has not seen such a tide turn at fixed base operators (FBO) when it comes to some well-established notions.

FBOs provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, and similar services at airports. The aviation data provider collects aviation fuel prices from FBOs throughout the US, with around 3,250 at any given time reporting prices posted within the past 30 days.

In a company release, GlobalAir.com President and CEO Jeffrey Carrithers said, "When you have been in the business aviation industry for as long as we have, you see all kinds of things. However, this is our first time seeing anything like this."

Jet Fuel Prices by Region (US)

The report also notes how the locations seeing the higher prices are noteworthy in this unprecedented market.

Traditionally jet fuel prices are higher in the Eastern US, but as of early May, Jet-A prices were running 2% higher in the New England Region (US$7.96) than in the Northeast Region (US$7.81), a historical anomaly. The Western Pacific Region (US$7.08) is seeing prices 11% lower than in New England, a wider margin than typical.

Jet fuel prices posted on GlobalAir.com are under the US$7 mark elsewhere in the continental US, averaging US$6.82 in the Northwest Mountain Region, US$6.72 in the Southwest Region, and US$6.31 in the Great Lakes Region, and $6.10 in the Central Region. The national average as of this publication was US$6.90.

Since the average retail price of Jet-A price hit a three-year low of US$4.49 in May of 2020, compounded by surplus supply and pandemic-driven airline shutdowns, it has risen 47.2% in the past two years, based on national averages tracked and compiled by the company.

"Just as we have seen demand for aircraft unlike anything in recent decades, and how that has impacted private jet prices, we are now seeing that in the aviation fuel market,” Carrithers said.

To find out more, the GlobalAir.com Airport Resource Center provides aircraft fuel prices, fuel mapping applications to compare FBO fuel prices, aviation weather, and FAA airport information for thousands of airports across the United States.

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